Welcome to the Forum Archive!

Years of conversation fill a ton of digital pages, and we've kept all of it accessible to browse or copy over. Whether you're looking for reveal articles for older champions, or the first time that Rammus rolled into an "OK" thread, or anything in between, you can find it here. When you're finished, check out the boards to join in the latest League of Legends discussions.

Mobility creep,what is it, what caused it, how do we fix it?

What is mobility creep? Currently the majority of top tier champions are champions that have innate mobility. They feature dashes/blinks/gap closers of some sort or a way to speed up or escape a bad situation. While AD carries are the primary example of this meta shift, all roles are effected by this as well.

What caused mobility creep? There are actually 4 main reasons.

#1- The prevalence of slows. Many champions have spamable slows (Skarner, Ashe) or VERY strong slows (Singed, Lulu, Janna, Orianna). Position does not counter slows...but escapes do! I would also include creatable terrain in this category because it is easier to dash the terrain then to run around/across.

#2- Gap closers. So many champions that need to get into melee range to fight are given gap closers. What is the best way to not get into a long fight with them? CC or mobility. CC should probably be used on higher priority targets so the answer is generally mobility. Mobility is the best answer to mobility.....this starts a cyclical effect.

#3- Mage champion design. Avoidable mage damage/CC that is easier with a mobility spell. Lets look at 3 of the last few mages released: Orianna, Ahri, and Zyra. These are all played competitively. What do they all share? A disabling mechanic which is avoidable with a dash/blink but that is practically unavoidable by moving. Older champion designs feature instant effects like Ryze snare or annie tibbers/Incinerate stun or skillshots with much slower travel speeds (Morgana, Lux). But Orianna's ult is dodge-able with a mobility spell, Ahri's E damage/CC, Q. and R damage are all best mitigated by a flash mechanic. Zyra E, plants, and R CC effect are all easily dodge-able with a flash effect that is harder to do by movement.

The newer mage designs have longer range then their predecessors. While old school mechanics would allow good positioning to keep a AP or AD carry safe from an opposing mages damage, the newer ones are less affected by good position and are more effected by a well timed mobility spell. That is not to say that newer mage designs like Ahri, Zyra and Orianna are a problem...its simply easier to fight these casters with a mobility spell.

No matter how much positioning you have on Ashe you will be zoned or comboed by an Ahri.

Note: this does not only apply to mage abilities but they are by far the most common. It also applies to telegraphed skillshots that are not very avoidable by positioning/sidestepping but yet are telegraphed in their use such as Graves Q/R/Gragas Q/R when telegraphed by gap closers. It is simply superior to play versus these champions with a mobility champion.

#4- The aggressive burstier champs of bot lane and jungle. Its not as important to have an escape when you are against a Soraka/Janna and with a Soraka/Janna. But various nerfs have reduced the passiveness of bot lane. Now champions such as Blitzcrank/Leona/Taric can combo you for a large amount of your hp bar when combined with some of the burstier ADs. But wait, if you have an escape you can prempt their CC and choose to be stunned closer to your tower so you cannot be comboed down (taric) or you can use it to dodge the high speed skill shots of leona or Blitzcrank? The gap escape ability is so strong because of this and allows you to not be zoned against someone that would otherwise zone you. The escape ability lets you change the way you are playing and fundamentally changes the way you can lane. On top of all that, it doubles as a gap closer for most champions allowing you the double threat of escapeing a narrow kill and creating a kill where one would not be possible otherwise. How can Ashe be aggressive in the current meta?

Jungle as well. Maokai is at a disadvantage against escapes because they can be used to reposition maokai as he twisted advances. Skarner forces a fight with his Q so without a mobility spell you are forced to fight the tanky scorpion and thus a champion with more mobility is desirable to fight against him.

The more skillshots in the game the more important a mobility spell is. The more damage that is avoidable by mobility the more important a mobility spell is in the game. The more gap closing bruisers that want to fight you in melee range released the more mobility is important. The more slows that force a fight to happen the more important a mobility spell is.

You know how flash was broken when it stopped projectiles? Well how broken are escape spells when they stop some/counter champion ultimates?

How do we fix it? Solution #1: We make mage damage more dependable and not reliant on positional skill shots. This is particularly important on ults and CC effects. Perma slow effects should be reduced so that positioning matters more and gap closers should be something far more special then they are. Escapes are not as strong because they have less utility then before and positioning is far more important. This involves a heavy retooling of existing champions and mechanics and while it may be the best solution it is a rather impractical one.

Solution #2: Balance escapes like you do Flash and put them on very long cooldowns, especially early and mid game. If Ezreal, Corki and Graves could only dash every 50-60 seconds with only one point invested it would reduce their lane power and make the use of the escape a larger deal and not to just avoid damage or a skill shot during an extended teamfight and have it back up immediately. (Late game could have lower cooldowns such as 20 seconds to encourage putting skillpoints in the skill). Adjustments would have to be made on some of the more mobile top laners and mid laners as well. Currently all mobility skills are generally "one point wonders" letting them be at full power early and mid game. Lets change that.

Unless one of these 2 solutions is implemented this game will be known as the League of Mobility. Champions without mobility utility need not apply.

my point is that wiht so much free MS before the game even starts people will also gravitate towards instant gap closers instead of kits with an ms steroid. why use an unreliable ms steroid when you could use an instant dash and still have similar speed to the guy with steroid in their kit?

cuts to the defenive items and lifesteal for ad carrys. banshee's veil was used alot before its nerf, since it could block the first initiation skill right before the fight and the cd being short enough for it to block another 1 in the middle of the team fight. corki/ezreal was picked a lot due to the fact they can escape that first skill aimed at them/get out right away when the skill land. so by making bv unviable many of the ad that rely on it fell out of favor

Why do you want to LOWER mobility though? Mobility is fun to play, fun to use, and the reason why it's prevalent. Nobody wants to have to walk straight up to someone else every time they want to start a fight and have their mobility skill on high cd (especially when enemy starts to walk backwards as well).

Like you said, while mobility spells are strong against skillshots, they are also susceptible to skills with an innate snare/stun effect. Using your example of Ashe and Ahri, no matter how strong Ahri's ult is, she can still get killed pretty fast if the Ashe manages to land a good arrow.